Valve’s International Championship of Dota 2 Begins

The entire world’s best teams travel to Valve’s headquarters in Seattle to compete for over $2.8 million.

This year, Valve’s Dota 2 Championships, The International, is in its third year. The tournament already has 400,000 concurrent live viewers.

With over 2.8 million in prize money, the world’s best Dota 2 teams have descended on to Valve’s headquarters in Seattle to compete with each other. Plenty of teams have flown in from around the world ready to fight it out, including 2011 International Champions Na’Vi from Ukraine, 2012 International Champions Invictus Gaming from China, and 2013 favorites Alliance from Sweden.

TheInternational tournaments main event isn’t the only thing getting excitement from fans. Valve will also be hosting a 1v1 Solo Championship and an All-Star match with favorite players voted on by the fans. Some of the star players competing in both include Danil “Dendi” Ishutin from Na’Vi, Luo “Ferrari” Feichi from Invictus Gaming, Jonathan “Loda” Berg from Alliance, and Chai “Mushi” Yee Fung from Orange Esports. The full list of all the teams and the competitors can be found on the official International site.

The prize pool continues to increase by $2.50 with every purchase of the $10 Interactive Compendium. This prize pool is the largest amount ever given out for a single-event in competitive gaming/eSports history.

The International 3 Main Event will begin on August 7th at the Benaroya Hall in Seattle, Washington. The entire tournament will be streamed on the in-game spectator client Dota TV, and on TwitchTV.